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How smart? This jewelry can call police for you

By Rick Sobey, rsobey@lowellsun.com

Updated:
12/17/2017 09:13:26 AM EST

Co-founders of invisaWear Technologies Rajia Abdelaziz, of Nashua, and Raymond Hamilton, of Billerica, at the headquarters of their startup, with some of their products. They will produce jewelry and other accessories with an app that will alert emergency contacts and 911 if the user is not able to telephone.
SUN/JULIA MALAKIE

LOWELL -- As a college student walks back to her apartment alone in the dark, a stranger comes up from behind.

She hastily searches for the pepper spray in her bag.

Before she gets a handle on the can, the attacker grabs her arm.

It's not only college-age women who may get targeted walking outside alone; nurses and doctors who leave after a late shift can be vulnerable to attacks, as can runners in rural areas, or real estate agents showing properties on their own.

As a student at UMass Lowell, Rajia Abdelaziz heard from peers about their concerns with walking alone in the dark. Pepper spray simply didn't give them peace of mind.

"There needs to be a better solution," Abdelaziz thought at the time.

As a result, the engineer started a class project to help people be safe at all times. Her project started to gain traction at the university, and soon, the public will be able to purchase the safety device.

She co-founded invisaWear Technologies LLC, based out of Lowell, where they create smart jewelry and accessories that instantly contact friends, family, and police in the event of an emergency.

With a push of a button, users can send an alert message to emergency contacts and police requesting assistance at their exact location. It targets all age groups from women on college campuses to the elderly fearing falls. For the elderly, it would replace conspicuous medical alert systems.

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"Everything I had researched were these big, ugly panic buttons," Abdelaziz, company CEO, recalled. "I wouldn't be caught dead wearing one of those things.

" 'Why not in jewelry?' I thought. It'd be disguised as something that looks nice, so an attacker won't really know you're calling for help," she added. "We had a moral obligation to take this thing and design it, and bring it to market so we can help protect millions of people."

The product will be available for presale in January. invisaWear recently held a ribbon cutting at its office on Stedman Street; it also has access to UMass Lowell's Innovation Hub in the Hamilton Innovation District.

The other co-founder is Raymond Hamilton, also an engineer who graduated from UMass Lowell.

They never intended to start a business, they emphasize. That was until Abdelaziz learned that fellow engineers wouldn't show up at meetings for the Society of Women Engineers because they were afraid of walking outside in the dark.

She recommended they buy a $20 can of pepper spray.

"Everyone looked at me like I had four heads," she said. " 'What if someone grabs it and tries to use it against me?' they responded to me."

As a result, the smart jewelry idea was created. They entered competitions, and received a DifferenceMaker award in 2016 -- first place for Innovative Technology Solution.

Parents started raving about the product, saying they'd fund the start-up if the founders could promise their kids' safety. Students kept asking where they could buy the jewelry.

They earned more than $15,000 in prizes, and were accepted into the MassChallenge summer cohort; 1,700 companies applied, and only 128 were accepted into the start-up program.

They raised $100,000 in their first round of funding. They were also one of three companies that received the first loans from a new, $1 million fund operated by the Lowell Development and Financial Corporation.

"That helped jumpstart development," Hamilton said. "It was incredible to help pay for a lot of the development costs."

They developed the fully functional prototype, and set up manufacturing partnerships, including at Accutronics in Chelmsford. They're preparing for production now.

Users will purchase a charm and one piece of jewelry -- either a keychain, bracelet or necklace. They'll then download a companion app on their smartphone, which teaches the user how it works. Users can select up to five emergency contacts, along with the police.

They have a patent-pending software that shows police where the user is located.

"It helps them determine which dispatch center can actually send you help in a life-threatening emergency," Hamilton said.

Users can quickly cancel if they accidentally pressed the alert button.

The product will retail for $129. The limited early-bird special will range from $79 to $99 on Indiegogo.

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